SR-71 A-12 U-2 Spy Planes: 50-year Cold War Commemoration

Video from the channel PeninsulaSrsVideos about Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 58:30. Language: English. Video type: News.

The Peninsula Seniors programme covers an event held at Blackbird Airpark in Palmdale, California, honouring Cold War strategic reconnaissance. U-2, A-12 and SR-71 pilots take part. The event coincided with the anniversary of the first flight of A-12 number one, on display at the park. That aircraft took off on 26 April 1962 in a troubled first attempt, with the official flight coming on 30 April.

The moderator explains that the U-2 was born from the need to know whether the Soviet Union had bombers capable of attacking the United States, and later how many intercontinental missiles it had. After Francis Gary Powers was shot down, the search began for an aircraft that could fly higher and faster and be hard to detect by radar: the A-12, followed by the SR-71. Lewis Setter, an instructor for the first U-2 pilots, describes how difficult its landing gear was and the frequent engine flameouts at high altitude, which forced pilots to glide until they could relight it. Ken Collins recounts his ejection from an A-12 during J58 engine tests, when the aircraft entered an inverted spin. Frank Murray, the last pilot trained on the A-12, recalls his arrival in the programme. Bob Gilliland, who flew the SR-71's first flight solo on 22 December, receives his "bronze skunk" distinction from Skunk Works.

BC Thomas, introduced as the pilot with the most hours on the SR-71, recalls missions to monitor the Polish border after the declaration of martial law in Poland. He also recounts an emergency landing in Bodø, Norway, which by his account was the aircraft's first landing on continental Europe. Ed Yeilding narrates the flight of 6 March 1990, alongside J. T. Vida, which took an SR-71 to the Smithsonian. They crossed the country at Mach 3.3 in 67 minutes and 54 seconds coast to coast, and in 64 minutes and 20 seconds between Los Angeles and Washington. On arrival they made passes over Dulles Airport. The moderator adds that NASA kept flying the SR-71 until October 1999 and that all surviving examples are preserved in museums, one of them in England.